Another Eyman Initiative ruled unconstitutional

Tim Eyman’s 2/3 majority requirement for raising new state revenue is unconstitutional, according to King County Superior Court Judge Bruce E. Heller.

The law enacted through Initiative 1053 is ruled unconstitutional; it directly contradicts the Washington State Constitution, Article II, Section 22:

No bill shall become a law unless on its final passage the vote be taken by yeas and nays, the names of the members voting for and against the same be entered on the journal of each house, and a majority of the members elected to each house be recorded thereon as voting in its favor.

Of course, the ruling will be appealed and, ultimately, settled by the Supreme Court. With any luck, the Supreme Court won’t be able to weasel its way out of a substantive ruling this time….

The next question: If I-1053 is unconstitutional, what should be the fate of its latest incarnation, I-1185, should it get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot? Will AG Rob McKenna sue Eyman to keep an unconstitutional initiative off the ballot?

You know, like AG Christine Gregoire did with Goldy’s Horses’ Ass initiative.

Paul Krugman picks up on a trend that’s quietly becoming more common: “right-wing political correctness.” As Krugman explained it, the goal is “to make it impossible to talk, and possibly even think, about ideas that challenge the established order.”

Thus, even talking about “the wealthy” brings angry denunciations; we’re supposed to call them “job creators.” Even talking about inequality is “class warfare.”

Over Memorial Day weekend, MSNBC host Chris Hayes ignited a little firestorm with his comments and questions about the use of the word “hero” to describe those American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who die in our wars.

Conservative bloggers led the charge in denouncing Hayes. They shouldn’t have. Hayes wasn’t attacking the war dead. He wasn’t even concluding that we shouldn’t use the word “hero” to describe them. He was using his feelings — discomfort rooted in concern that the label applies a positive pressure towards U.S. entry into more wars — to open a discussion.

Conservatives express shock and horror over political correctness, which they roughly define as the Orwellian suppression of any frank discussion about issues that liberals hold dear. But conservatives practice their own PC, too. “Freedom fries,” anyone?

…

A few days later, Michigan’s Mackinac Center, a conservative think tank, issued a broad public records request to labor studies centers at Wayne State University, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. The request seeks any emails dealing with the collective bargaining situation in Wisconsin – including oddly the surname of liberal MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow – an inclusion that Maddow says caught her completely by surprise. She wasn’t alone.

Good! This won’t be over until the state supreme court makes a final disposition of the issue, but the trial court’s (correct) ruling is a step in the right direction. Sorry, Eyman, the state constitution says what it says.

I don’t understand the ban – I don’t comment on rich people over at SP. They just don’t like any one saying anything against them.

Possibly I’m banned because I told Tim Eyman he would be useful in the campaign to legalize cannabis. Maybe that’s why they don’t like what I had to say. Guess Tim’s not too keen on allowing people to enjoy a naturally occuring herb.

@10
I’m banned from pudge’s posts – if I post something he comes along and ‘disappears’ my post.
Since it’s not rules-based, there’s none of this:

5. Puddybud spews:

[Deleted — see HA Comment Policy]

Rather, your post is just gone, *POOF*. This has the comic effect of messing up the post numbering scheme, leaving behind traces of what happened.

One difference from here is the obvious arbitrary and autocratic nature of what they’re doing, like I said, not rules-based. Rather more like thugs showing up in the night and making you disappear. And you might never know why.

Kind a microcosm of right-wing rule, little fascists playing at having some power.

Someone around here has also mentioned that Stefan ‘outs’ people who post things he doesn’t like – I’ve seen that happen recently, with ‘Tensor’ I think – they used his real name to get him to stop saying reasonable things.

All in all a nasty bunch of thuggish little fascists with a propensity for Ayn Rand-derived pseudonyms. Not really worth the time to try to converse.

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It may be hard to believe from the vile nature of the threads, but yes, we have a commenting policy. Comments containing libel, copyright violations, spam, blatant sock puppetry, and deliberate off-topic trolling are all strictly prohibited, and may be deleted on an entirely arbitrary, sporadic, and selective basis. And repeat offenders may be banned! This is my blog. Life isn’t fair.